Basically what we have here is a pretty good introduction to old-school blues-based Whitesnake. It's a double CD recorded live at last years Wacken festival, featuring original 'Snake members Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden and Neil Murray, rounded out by Don Airey and John Lingwood on the kit. Where's Mr. Coverdale?? Well, you won't find him here, but who you will find is Stefan Berggren: a great vocalist in the style of Paul Rodgers. Overall performance by the band is great and Berggren does a good job on the tracks although he sometimes lacks the passion projected on the originals by Coverdale.

Lots of great material on these two discs, pretty much spanning the early Whitesnake catalogue: "Lovehunter", "Ain't Gonna Cry No More", "Slow and Easy", "Here I Go Again", as well as a couple of new originals and a cover of Russ Ballard's "Since You've been Gone" (also made popular by Rainbow). I must admit though ,it's strange to hear this line-up do "Is This Love", seeing how it was recorded by Coverdale/Sykes line-up. Also out of place is the radio version of "Here I Go Again" as the original with Coverdale / Moody / Marsden / Murray is a lot slower, not as commercial as the '87 version.

There's something missing from this CD though, but I can't put my finger on it. Upon numerous listens, I still ask myself; what's missing???? It could be the mix of the crowd in the recording (fairly low) or just the execution of the songs. All in all, a good starting point if you want to dip into the Whitesnake library. Their official site can be found at: http://www.companyofsnakes.com/ Recommended Whitesnake listening: Ready And Willing, Slow And Easy, Live In The Heart of the City, Whitesnake '87.